Cranberry Tart

To the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, add the flour, powdered sugar, and cubes of butter. Mix together on medium speed until you get pea-size clumps.

Add in the egg yolk and again mix on medium speed to incorporate. As the mixer is mixing, add in the tablespoon of cold water. Be patient and let the ingredients mix until they come together to form a compact dough that's sticking to your beater and coming away from the sides of the bowl.

Grease a 9" tart pan with a removable bottom. Use baking spray or softened butter to grease the bottoms and sides. Form a ball with your dough then place it in the greased pan.

Use the palm of your hand to flatten out the dough in the hand, using some elbow grease to really flatten it out as best as you can. Once most of the bottom is covered in the dough, begin using your fingers to push the dough outward to the edges of the pan and up the sides. Keep working at the dough until it's lined the entire inside of the tart pan.

Freeze the tart dough (very important!) for 30 minutes in the freezer.

Meanwhile, make the cranberry curd filling. Add the fresh cranberries to a large saucepan, along with the orange juice, orange zest, and granulated sugar.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir everything together. Let the cranberries cook for approximately 10 minutes, until they've all split. You'll probably hear some popping sounds throughout this time as the cranberries burst open.

In a medium bowl, add your two whole eggs and two egg yolks. Whisk to break all the yolks apart. Temporarily set aside.

Place a large sieve over a large clean bowl. Pour the contents of the saucepan into the sieve. Then, use a wooden spoon to stir and mash the cranberries in the sieve and release all of its juices into the bowl underneath the sieve. You'll need to work at the cranberries for a good 5 minutes to make sure you get as much of their juices as you can. Make sure to run your spoon along the exterior of the sieve too to release thicker juices that are lining the sieve. Remember, this cranberry juice makes up most of the filling so you want to get as much juice as you can out of the cranberries.

Dump the leftover mashed berries remaining in the sieve. Now, take a few spoonfuls of the resulting cranberry liquid and add them to the bowl of eggs. Whisk the cranberry liquid into the eggs to help temper the eggs (meaning bring the temperature of the eggs up to the temperature of the cranberry liquid - otherwise you'll get scrambled eggs later!).

Pour the cranberry-egg mixture into the entire cranberry liquid, and whisk vigorously to combine.

Drop your butter into the saucepan you previously used. Melt the butter over medium-low heat. Once melted, poured the entire cranberry batter into the saucepan. Constantly whisk this mixture for about 5 minutes, or until the curd begins to slightly thicken and easily coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and temporarily set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prick all over the bottom of your pastry crust with a fork. Line the crust with a sheet of parchment paper, then pour pie weights or dried beans onto the sheet to weight down the crust.

Blind-bake the pastry crust in this manner for 12 minutes. Take the pastry crust out of the oven, and remove the parchment paper and beans.

Bake the crust for another 6 minutes, then remove from the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F.

Pour the cranberry curd into the pastry shell. Smooth it out and make sure it's evenly distributed throughout the pastry shell.

Bake the tart for 10 minutes, then remove it from the oven.

To a clean mixing bowl, add the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Whisk on high speed until you get very stiff, glossy peaks. The egg whites should in no way look foamy, soft, or matte.

Add the meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a star tips and pipe out any kind of design you like on top of the cranberry tart. Depending on what you do, you may or may not have extra meringue leftover.

Bake the meringue for at least 10 to 12 minutes or until it has browned.

Cool the tart too room temperature and refrigerate when not enjoying.